


Fresh Faced

by WhyNotFly



Series: The Aro Archives [6]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Aroace!Jonah, Aroace!Peter, Discussions of canonical body hopping, Fluff, Just two immortal evil aro ace husbands, M/M, Unapologetically cutesy lonely eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28758432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyNotFly/pseuds/WhyNotFly
Summary: “Don’t you notice somethingdifferentabout me?”  Peter can practically hear the impatient foot tapping in Jonah’s voice.Peter flicks his gaze up and down.  “There’s quite a few differences, James, could you possibly be more specific?”“It’sEliasnow,” Jonah practically spits.  “I’ve been in a new body for threebloodydays and you haven’t noticed, Peter.”“Of course I’ve noticed.  I just didn’t find it worth mentioning.”
Relationships: Elias Bouchard/Peter Lukas
Series: The Aro Archives [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714381
Comments: 10
Kudos: 124
Collections: Aspec Archives Week





	Fresh Faced

Despite what Jonah may believe, Peter is not actually as oblivious as he appears. Sometimes—most times if he’s being honest—it is simply more fun to wait and see just how tight the little line between Jonah’s eyebrows will go before he breaks and demands Peter pay him the attention he’s been waiting for. Like now for instance, Peter has been very pointedly not looking up from his Sunday newspaper as Jonah show-ponies around their living room, draping himself dramatically over every conceivable surface.

For a man who so loves the sound of his own voice, Jonah seems to have a terribly hard time simply _saying_ what he wants from Peter.

“So?” Jonah finally asks, and his voice has a deep swell of bass behind it which is almost disorienting after the nasally whine to which Peter had grown accustomed.

Peter flips down the top of his newspaper to find Jonah standing just beyond it, close enough to Peter that their knees practically brush, hands imperiously perched on his freshly slimmed hips, staring down at him with a glower. “So what, darling?”

Jonah’s fresh face isn’t even old enough to wrinkle and yet somehow, in his seething, Jonah manages it. Impressive, really.

“Don’t you notice something _different_ about me?” Peter can practically hear the impatient foot tapping in Jonah’s voice.

Peter flicks his gaze up and down. “There’s quite a few differences, James, could you possibly be more specific?”

“It’s _Elias_ now,” Jonah practically spits. “I’ve been in a new body for three _bloody_ days and you haven’t noticed, Peter.”

“Of course I’ve noticed. I just didn’t find it worth mentioning.”

“Not worth—”

“Just because I don’t serve your peeping Tom god doesn’t mean I’m _blind,_ Ja—Elias. Any idiot could see you’ve hopped to an entirely new body, so what’s the point in belaboring it?” Peter nods, pleased with an argument well made, and fluffs his newspaper back up in front of his face. He’d been in the middle of a rather good missed connection and he’s dying to know how it ends.

Jonah’s hand comes down on his newspaper with a crunch, crumpling the top and tearing a page quite badly. Over the top of it, Peter can see Jonah’s new face working itself into quite a lather for some ungodly reason. Peter wouldn’t really care to unravel the mysteries of his mercurial husband if said husband wasn’t so intent on ruining Peter’s morning with it.

“I think it rather deserves a mention when someone possesses a new body.”

“This is what,” Peter purses his lips briefly as he counts in his head. “Your fifth body? Your sixth? Not so momentous anymore.”

“Birthdays are celebrated every single _year_.”

“Not in my experience,” Peter counters with a shrug. 

Jonah takes a step back and for a moment, Peter makes the optimistically false assumption that perhaps he will finally be left alone to his quiet morning. 

“Don’t you think I wear this suit well?” Jonah asks, stretching out his fresh arms and arching his back like a show peacock. It _is_ a fine suit, a slim cut black silk tailored neatly on the sleeves. Peter muses over which credit card he will find missing from his wallet. Even if he _was_ blind he could track Jonah’s body hopping like the moon cycle by when his bank contacts him over potentially fraudulent purchases.

“Yes, darling,” Peter agrees, without sighing, because that is the quickest way to make sure Jonah takes up the entire rest of his day. “You wear it very well.”

“And how about this face?” Jonah slips a manicured hand beneath his chin and tilts his face until the soft skin of his cheeks catches the dull light. 

“You’re certainly much younger now than you were as James,” Peter says, which is as factual as it is _exactly_ what Jonah didn’t want to hear by the look on his face.

“Aren’t I fit?” Jonah steps forward, his voice building towards a furious crescendo. “Isn't this body attractive?”

Peter sets the newspaper down on the end table beside him, surrendering to the fact that his dream of slipping back into a peaceful solitude is probably about as impossible now as disentangling his life from this deeply exhausting man he has committed himself to. 

“Tell me what you want me to say, James. I can’t do it until you tell me.”

“ _Elias_ ,” Jonah corrects. With a sigh that has his neatly tailored shoulders slumping, Jonah steps forward and sinks down onto Peter’s lap. “I just thought… as my _husband_ , you would appreciate me more.”

Jonah truly has mastered the art of being a two hundred year old demigod but sounding like a three-legged puppy who’s been kicked out on the street. “Why is this so important?” Peter asks, letting his arms splay out to the sides so Jonah can edge himself in closer and clutch at the fabric of his jumper. “You know I don’t find people attractive. And I know _your_ feelings towards sex.”

Jonah’s nose screws up in distaste. “Disgusting act. And a horrid waste of time. You know, every brilliant mind amongst my peers lost their way when they surrendered their pursuit of the scientific to give in to grotesque carnal desires, and I am where I am today because—”

“Yes yes, it’s an excellent spiel,” Peter cuts him off quickly before Jonah’s rage against sexuality consumes their entire day. “But my point is, we’ve no interest in each other’s bodies. Why should we bother starting now?”

Jonah frowns, looking as put upon as an actor in a melodrama, and turns his head away to the side. “My personal disinterest does not leave me unaware of what is generally considered attractive and what is not. And I put in a great deal of effort to my clothing, to my grooming, to choosing this body particularly because of his beautiful features, and I’d like a little bit of acknowledgement of all the work I’ve done. My work at the Institute with regards to my ritual is by necessity secret, which means I get no accolades for all the _extensive_ _efforts_ I undergo. God forbid Gertrude ever _thank_ me for the small fortune I spend sending her on her exploits.”

Jonah shifts a bit on Peter’s lap and Peter swears he can almost see a hint of shameful red creep up into those freshly cut cheekbones of his. “It would simply be nice to have one single opportunity to gloat.”

“Poor choice, then, marrying a Lukas,” Peter answers. “Our praise has a sad tendency to ring hollow.”

“You’re useless,” Jonah snaps, but it lacks the genuine anger he had before. “I could walk down the street wearing this body and have men and women falling over themselves trying to compliment me.”

“Sounds like an enjoyable afternoon.” Peter smiles and pats Jonah twice on the cheek like a child. “I’ll have dinner on the table by the time you come home.”

Jonah groans and smacks Peter once across the chest, hard enough to sting. “Can’t you at least be man enough to muster up some jealousy?”

Peter catches Jonah by the hand, cradling the unfamiliar fingers within his own. “Come back to me when you’ve chosen to share your life with them, then perhaps I’ll be jealous.”

The ice in Jonah’s gaze melts just a little, and he tucks his chin down into his collarbone to hide his face. “Can’t you just muster up one single compliment? Surely that shouldn’t be _beyond your capabilities?_ ”

A clumsy attempt to wind him up, but Peter is nothing if not soft hearted, so he doesn’t mind giving in. “Well then, up you go.” Peter pushes lightly at Jonah’s thighs until he slides back off his lap and stands up. “Do a twirl, let me look at you, and I’ll see if there isn’t something worth my attention.”

Peter can tell Jonah feels humiliated by having to present himself like this—which feels like a silly boundary to draw after the showboating he’d been doing earlier—so Peter makes sure to draw out his inspection as long as possible. He hums and holds his chin, tilting his head consideringly this way and that as he instructs Jonah to lift one arm then another.

“Well?” Jonah finally demands, impatient, as Peter falls into silent contemplation. Peter likes him like this, a bit flushed and disheveled, a little desperate. More human than usual. A rare kind of Jonah to see indeed. A crack in the impenetrable armor. “What do you like?”

“I like the eyes,” Peter says. “You did a beautiful job with those.

Jonah’s brand new face turns scarlet. “Why do I even bother with you,” he snaps, his voice just on the edge of becoming a wobbly mess. He turns briskly on his heel and storms from the room, and if Peter hadn’t been quite such a longtime connoisseur of Jonah’s heart and soul, he might have fallen for the masquerade of anger. 

But Peter’s nowhere near as oblivious as Jonah thinks he is.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy continued Aspec Archives Week!!! It's been approximately a million years since I wrote some soft silly lonely eyes and gosh did I miss it, it's like comfort food. Warm and tasty. Love to see it.
> 
> If you liked this! Come hang out with me on tumblr [@apatheticbutterflies](https://apatheticbutterflies.tumblr.com/) I'm very cool and fun and post lots of writing. Also!! Check out the event I'm helping run, [Tma Mspec Week!!!](https://tma-mspec-week.tumblr.com/) It's just a week for writing about any kind of canon or headcanons of magnus archives characters and multi attracted orientations like bi, pan, omni, etc. It's gonna be a really fun time!!!


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